Santa Cruz church vandalized, historic font broken

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Vandals defaced a landmark Santa Cruz church early Sunday, scrawling phrases in spray paint on its walls and breaking a historic baptismal font in its garden, church officials said.

Staffers at Holy Cross Catholic Church on High Street just north of downtown found the vandalism at 7 a.m. when they were preparing for Sunday Mass, said Deacon Warren Hoy.

Phrases like, “The true evil,” “For my ancestors” and “We all have heathen blood,” were written on walls of the church, which was built near the original Santa Cruz Mission, Hoy said.

“Obviously the first feeling was shock — to come in to find vitriol directed against you,” Hoy said of parishioners’ reaction. “Then some anger was involved, saying, ‘Why would you do this?’ That resolved itself pretty quickly. A lot of it now is just bewilderment.”

5.6.2012 400lb. 1791 Fount

(Courtesy Holy Cross Church)

A stone baptismal font in the garden — which Father Junipero Serra brought to the original mission in 1791 — was spray painted with the word “evil” and was knocked over and broken, Hoy said. Two statues, of Junipero Serra and the Virgin Mary, were covered in paint.

The vandals hit the main church building, the mission’s museum and Siena House, a building used for ministry purposes across the street.

Footage from surveillance cameras aimed at part of the church grounds has been given to police, Hoy said.

“Holy Cross has been vandalized in the past, but nothing near this level,” Hoy said. “Part of that is that I think when you want to protest against the establishment, the Catholic Church epitomizes the establishment. We tend to be a lightning rod for that sort of thing. We’re very convenient to downtown Santa Cruz and we don’t have fences or walls. It’s readily accessible for that thing — a target of opportunity.”

The vandals also climbed to the roof and spray painted the church tower. The church can be repainted, but the historic font might be hard to repair, Hoy said.